Saturday, May 1, 2010

Regional Recipes: Vietnam!

So far we've eaten hummus in the Middle East, soda bread in Ireland, and rice and beans in Haiti. Next up, let's make our way East with a trip to...VIETNAM!

Vietnamese cuisine is typically admired for its emphasis on healthy and fresh ingredients. It can be broken up into three categories, based on the region it is from. Northern Vietnamese food is probably most similar to what you would expect to find in a Vietnamese restaurant, as northern Vietnam was the cradle of Vietnamese culture. It gave rise to popular dishes such as pho and banh cuon or a rolled cake. Southern Vietnamese food, in contrast, was greatly influenced by the Chinese and French and so it tends to emphasize sweeter flavors and utilizes a wider variety of herbs. Central Vietnamese cuisine veers from the aforementioned two in that it typically consists of a lot of smaller dishes...kind of like a Vietnamese tapas. It is also usually the most spicy of the three.

Sounds like fun! My sister has an old friend that stayed in Vietnam for a spell. Did you know they eat dog meat? Apparently, the dogs are raised on farms much like cattle. No dog for me, thanks! I'll see what else I can find. ;D

This is really interesting concept. I love Vietnamese cuisine, the way of keeping food so fresh, crisp, clean and simple. I wish I had some Vietnamese recipes to contribute. If you want some Nepalese recipe I can contribute some.

Welcome!

Ever since I started blogging, my motto has been that I wanted to taste the world. However, being a medical student on a budget...traveling the globe isn't really an option. Which is why I was so happy to take over Regional Recipes...a monthly blog event in which we cook from a different country each month! Feel free to join in the fun and look to the latest post on which country we are currently inhabiting.

In addition to running this blog, I also have a main blog where I ramble on about life, love, and medical school...but mostly about the things I eat along the way. It's called Eats Well With Others...stop by and say hi!

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Ever wonder what would have happened if Carrie Bradshaw had gone to medical school and filled her two by nothing New York apartment with cookbooks instead of shoes? Wonder no more. Join me as I weave my way through life in NYC as an MD/PhD student/marathon runner/grocery shopper extroadinaire....and eat really well while I do it!
Eats Well With Others - Often crazy. Mostly ridiculous. Always delicious.
Questions? Comments? Contact me at jhbruno87@gmail.com.